FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 14, 2000
Contact:
Rich Taylor or Phuong Yokitis
MPAA
202/293-1966
Emily Kutner
MPAA
818/995-6600
John Stodder
Edelman Public Relations
323/857-9100
FILM STUDIOS BRING CLAIM AGAINST DVD HACKERS IN FEDERAL COURT
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (January 14, 2000) - On January 14, 2000, in response to the
illegal hacking of the DVD encryption system "CSS," and subsequent Internet
distribution of an unauthorized de-encryption formula, the major motion picture
companies filed injunction complaints in the Southern District of New York and
District of Connecticut against four defendants to prevent them from making the
formula available on their web sites. The defendants in New York are Shawn C.
Reimerdes, Eric Corley A/K/A "Emmanuel Goldstein," Roman Kazan and Jeraimee
Hughes in the District of Connecticut.
The plaintiffs are Universal City Studios, Inc.; Paramount Pictures Corporation;
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.; Tristar Pictures, Inc.; Columbia Pictures
Industries, Inc.; Time Warner Entertainment Co., L.P.; Disney Enterprises, Inc.;
and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
Announcing the court action, Jack Valenti, President and Chief Executive Officer
of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), made the following
statement:
"The MPAA is striking a blow today in defense of the future of American movies.
We have filed suit in federal court to stop Internet hackers from distributing
the software designed to circumvent the encryption technology that prevents
unlawful copying of DVDs."
"This is a case of theft. The posting of the de-encryption formula is no
different from making and then distributing unauthorized keys to a department
store. The keys have no real purpose except to circumvent the locks that stand
between the thief and the goods he or she targets," said Valenti.
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone to traffic in any product that is
designed to render useless encryption devices that protect copyrighted material.
In 1998, Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) to protect the creators of copyrighted material from seeing
their life’s work stolen by Internet hackers.
The MPAA strongly supported the DMCA precisely because of concerns about online
piracy of motion pictures. The defendants’ brazen trafficking of the
unauthorized utility plainly violates the ‘anti-circumvention’ provisions of the
DMCA.
"The U.S. movie industry intends to defeat anyone who steals our intellectual
property. We are determined to defend the technology that protects artists’ and
intellectual property holders’ rights," vowed Valenti. "If you can’t protect
that which you own, then you don’t own anything."
Additional information on this case may be found on the MPAA web site at
www.mpaa.org.